HECTOR CANONGE                                                                                  >> enter site

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In my interdisciplinary work, I explore notions of personal transformation, corporeal endurance, social adaptability, and migratory displacement. As a multidisciplinary artist, I seek to address issues that pertain to gender identity, border crossing, and social constructs about cultural heritage, ethnicity and assimilation. In my installations, public interventions, and socially engaged projects, I derive my inspiration from everyday practices, the urban sphere, and my observations about the human condition. Often times, I employ found objects and materials to reassign a new meaning. Other times, I use technology to create immersive experiences with narratives that encourage reflection and dialogue. In performance art I produce and present projects that align with my own approach about somatic expression and corporeal actions framed by my own conceptual reference on body politics, embodiment of ancestral heritage, and ritualistic processes. 

My performances reference my personal history while addressing the (re)construction of cultural memory, the politics of gender, and the (de)colonization of the body. Through somatic expression, dance movement, and the incorporation of traditional materials and elements of Bolivian cultures, I create performative experiences to prompt reflection and better understanding of my origins. My work not only investigates the transformation of the migrant, the foreigner, the queer man, the Latin artist, but it also addresses the transformation of urban ethnic communities. Through performance art, public interventions, in-situ installations, and social engagement, I explore the human condition.

(G)RITOS URBANOS, Solo Exhibition, Museo Costumbrista Juan de Vargas, La Paz, Bolivia.

The project treats the relation and exploration of urban spaces, the body and time. The exhibition consists of a selection of videos and photographic documentation of public interventions in various cities around the world, interactive maps, garments and objects used in public performances, photographs of places where a performance never took place during the pandemic and an in-situ installation -the result of a public intervention for the opening day of the exhibition.

(G)RITOS URBANOS, Public Intervention & Performance, La Paz, Bolivia.

Performance for the exhibition (G)RITOS URBANOS. Responding the my walks in and around the city of La Paz, I found materials and objects in the ferias (street markets) that are traditionally used for example; the caña hueca (hollow cane) in the local festivities of Todos Santos (All Saints Day), the colorful sheep wool that are used in knitting baby’s clothes and the Aguayo (typical garment) used by women in particular to carry their loads or their babies. With the performance I reference the diversity of peoples living in Bolivia. I become part of the totem that I built becoming wrapped in the wools and the Aguayo. I am the product of that rich mix of peoples. It’s my scream, it’s my ritual.

ESCOLAR, Solo Exhibition, Museo Altillo Beni, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.

Interdisciplinary exhibition project that treats the socio-politico-economic disparities of education in Bolivia. Using discarded materials, objects, and elements from various schools in the industrial city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, the project constructs a visual narrative of the history of education in the emerging city while questioning the realities of cultural inequality and access to centers of learning.

For the exhibition, Canonge worked several months with the department of education, the sub-alcaldía (mayor’s office) of various districts, and museum staff to build one of the tallest installations – made of children seats- ever produced in the building.

MI HOGAR ESTÁ DONDE VOS ESTES (My Home Is Where You Might Be), Solo Exhibition, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.

The exhibition project has as its foundation the theme of memory and the exploration of space using the classical roof tiles of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. The project employs repurposed materials, colonial roof tiles, and gives them a new meaning far from their original use. The tiles, found discarded in front of a colonial house in the downtown city area, are the conductive thread to create an intimate immersive space that prompts reflection as it invites audiences to interact with its elements while reading projected narratives and interpreting the type of pseudo-archeological experience presented by the artist.

PERFORMANCE ART

Profundidades, Bienal de Arte de Oruro, Orur0, Bolivia.

Soñar Con Vos, Diversa Festival, Buenos Aires, Argentina.

Enredos II, Convento las Carmelitas, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.

También de Fantasías Vive un Hombre, Homenaje a Roberto Valcarcel, MABI, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.

Enredos I, Plaza de San Francisco, La Paz, Bolivia.

Enbordado, Performance Art Program, Fundación Bilbao, Bilbao Arte, Bilbao, Spain.

No Quiero Lo Que No Tengo, Acciones al Margen, Bucaramanga, Colombia.

Cruces, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, MAC, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.

Natüra, Festival por la tierra (Festival for the Earth), Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.

Susurro, Lock Unlock Monthly Performance Art Program, Online.

Virulence, Lock Unlock Monthly Performance Art Program, Online.

Sed, Lock Unlock Monthly Performance Art Program, Online.

VEINTE JORNADAS PARA LLEGAR A VOS, Published by Complot, La Paz, Bolivia, 2021.

A collection of poems written in twenty days while Canonge waited to travel to South America before the coup d'etat that aflicted Bolivia in 2019, and the pandemic that changed the artist's course of life. Written in a free verse style and the integration of Concrete Poetry, the book is about longing to get to a place while reflecting on a long distance relationship that is about the end or perhaps face a new beginning.

LIMINAL FATIGUE
Saturday, Dic 19, 12-1 pm (EST- NYC) , 5-6 pm (UTC)
Online Performance Art

The world pandemic of 2020 has changed the manner in which humanity interacts. People have to think about social habits, cultural exchanges, communication, and physical proximity. In a matter of months, the virus has put into question our socio-politico-economic structures as well as our physiological and psychological states. The balance we thought we once had, has crumbled. We have learned to wear masks, wash our hands, remain confined to our homes, and above all, we have tried to maintain ourselves in our own bubbles, our private universes, our states of Liminal Fatigue.

LIMINAL FATIGUE is a durational online performance art project that treats the psychological and physical state of mind of a world living under the fear of contagion. Divided in three different sections, the one-hour generative performance is an exploratory experience of time and corporeal presence framed by the constraints of the screen. LIMINAL FATIGUE is Canonge’s last Performance Art project of 2020.

June 21, 2020 (New York) .- From his home and production studio in New York City, artist and cultural producer, Hector Canonge has been developing projects and programs to explore virtual presence and embodiment in performance art. During the month of May, several online publications and organizations reviewed Canonge’s work and trajectory as performance artist and curator in the United States and abroad. Among the online publications are The Center Arts Design for Social Research (Helsinki, Finland), Cultura de Red (Brazilia, Brazil), and BodyScape Zone (New Delhi, India).

Coinciding with his first return visit to South America on June 21 2012, the artist will present the conference program, CRÓNICAS del ENCIERRO: Latinamérica (June 21, 2020), with the participation of 18 artists from different countries who will share their experiences and reflexions about living in a world under the COVID19 pandemic. The program will also address concerns about the present situation of the discipline of Performance Art in various countries, and about Latin American artists struggling to develop other modalities of expression. Canonge will moderate the conference that is sponsored by ARTerial Performance Lab, APLAB, an initiative he launched in 2013 in South America, and by his own production organization, CANONGE PRODUCTIONS. The artist talked about his experience forging an international community in Latin America:

Eight years ago, coinciding with Winter Solstice in the Southern Hemisphere, I returned to visit South America after living most of my life in the United States. On June 20, 2012, I closed my studio in Queens, gave up my family’s apartment in Manhattan, and left New York City to undertake a journey that would bring me close to my roots in Bolivia, where I lived as a child, and Argentina, where I was born. My arrival to Bolivia was organized by the cultural center mARTadero in the city of Cochabamba. My return to the city, where my maternal grandparents had helped built educational institutions and contributed to its cultural and artistic development, was marked by a public performance authorized by the Bolivian government at the Jorge Wilsterman International Airport. The project, SUI GENERIS, later continued in the galleries of mARTadero where I met relatives and I was introduced to the cultural and artistic movement in Bolivia. Following my daily presentations scheduled for the exhibition, I traveled to Buenos Aires, Argentina, to be reunited with family and friends of my parents. From 2012 to 2105, I lived abroad and visited many Latin American countries where I forged strong relations, friendhips and connections that to this day I value and care for. This project, CRONICAS del ENCIERRO: Latinoamérica, reflects my strong bond to the artistic communities of the Southern Hemisphere.”

In addition to the organization of the conference, CRONICAS del ENCIERRO: Latinoamerica, Canonge will be presenting online projects and programs among them:

* SOMATIC PROBES a series of performative actions for the program Lock Unlock with artists from Canada, Germany and India (June through July).

* DE PIE, Ciclo VideoPerformance Confinamiento, perfoREDmx (Mexico, June 24).

* MANIATADO, Video Performance, Diversa Marcha Virtual Protesta (Bolivia, June 26).

* TELEPRESENCIAS / TELEPRESENCES, online performance in collaboration with Verónica Peña, presented by Centro Cultural Paco Urondo (Argentina, June 27).

* LIBERACTION, panel presentation and performance program for Fundación Libertad (Bolivia, July 11).

* COVIDIANIDAD, online performance art program with guest artists from 18 Latin American countires (July 18).

Short Biography:

Hector Canonge is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and cultural producer based in New York City. His work incorporates various forms of artistic expression: Performance Art, Dance, Multimedia Production, Installation, and Social Practice to explore and treat issues related to constructions of identity, gender roles, and the politics of migration. Challenging the white box settings of a gallery or a museum, or intervening directly in public spaces, his performances mediate movement, endurance, and ritualistic processes. Some of his actions and carefully choreographed performances involve collaborating with other artists and interacting with audiences. His performance art projects, films and media installations have been presented and exhibited in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

As cultural entrepreneur, Canonge is the founding director of the performance festivals: ITINERANT, the annual Performance Art Festival of NYC (2011-present); LATITUDES, the International Performance Art Festival of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia (2018-present); and AUSTRAL, Performance Art Festival Buenos Aires (2019-present) in Argentina. He is responsible for initiatives such as ARTerial Performance Lab (2013-present), PERFORMEANDO (2014-2017), a program that focuses on featuring Hispanic performance artists living in the United States and Europe; PERFORMAXIS, an international residency program in collaboration with galleries and art spaces in Latin America (2014-present). Under his creative vision the following performance art platforms and programs were created: TALKaCTIVE (2015-2018), LiVEART.US (2016-2019), and CONVIVIR the international residency program at MODULO 715 (2016-2018). In 2017, Canonge launched the performance art platform, NEXUS, premiered during Miami Art Week. Canonge is currently at work in the development of an online platform for the exploration and experimentation of Live Art.

May 8, 2020 (New York) .- Still in confinement at his home-studi0 in New York City, artist and cultural producer, Hector Canonge, has fully recovered and is now back at work exploring various online platforms for his upcoming projects and production programs. Due to the CV19 afflicting the world, Canonge’s live presentations in Montreal, Viena and Berlin were halted in mid March while his curatorial Performance Art festivals, AUSTRAL in Buenos Aires, and ITINERANT in NYC, were postponed for future dates in 2020.

Starting this month, Canonge will present new exploratory works as guest artist in the online programs: Lockdown Performances (Argentina / Germany, Spring 2020), Measures (India, May 11), BRAC Online Exhibition (United States, May 15), XIV Noche Larga de Museos (Bolivia, May 22), and Virtually BAAD!’s Dance Compilation Concert (United States, May 23). From his home in New York City, and as a 2020 awardee of The Laundromat Project’s Creative Action Fund, Canonge will host the online conference ARTFUL - Performance Art Community Response to CV19 (May 30). He will also conduct the interviews for his worldwide Performance Art platform and archive initiative, Chronicles of Confinement - Crónicas del Encierro (May 8 to June 5) for a future presentation on June 12, 2020.

Artist Statement:
(Excerpt from a phone interview for Diakonia Comunicación Audiovisual conducted by P. Octavio):

“As the world continues to face the challenges of living, working and creating during CV19, we, as artists, will find ways to re-invent ourselves, our creative processes and our work. However, we will not go back to normal. It would be naive to think that after our confinement ends, the pandemic will stop. It will not happen that way. We will go outside of our homes and venture out into a new world. We will go back to uncharted territory, a new normalcy that will take us some time to figure it out. In this global crisis, Performance artists have been the most affected because our presentations, residencies, festivals, and performances have been cancelled, and very little has been done to help us overcome the economic and health challenges we face. In our work, the BODY is PRESENT. We create with our physicality in space and time. So our ABSENCE from galleries, museums, cultural centers and public spaces should be addressed. Though there are other modalities derived from our somatic expresions: video performance, photo performance, virtual performance and now Zoom performance, there is nothing more rewarding than presenting performance art work before a live audience.”

May 7 - June 30, 2020
NUEVOS RUMBOS (New Routes)
Lockdown Performances, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Online Conversation: May 9, 6:00 PM
A video performance and experimental poetry exploring confinement and the challenges of isolation. After recovering from CV19, the artist started to experiment with new ideas for his work. The video performance is an allegory to people's resistance and resilience during the period of confinement.

May 11 , 9:30 AM
INCH BY INCH
Program Measure
Worldwide Transmission from New Dehli, India.
Inch by Inch is an experiment in spatial perception where notions of the body in relation to artifacts build playful performative moments.

May 15 - August 15
Teaching is Learning
BRAC Artists: Why I Teach / Volume 2 Exhibition, New York City
Online Opening: May 15, 7:00 PM
This past winter, Canonge was approached to teach a Digital Animation workshop for children and youth in the Bronx, NY. As schools and cultural programs closed in the city in mid March, the program moved online. BRAC’s curatorial team invited Canonge and other fellow teaching artists to be part of the online exhibition program. A future site exhibit is programmed for June 2020.

May 22, 7:30 PM
PRESENTE (Present)
XIV Noche Larga de Museos, La Paz, Bolivia
Following the invitation of the project’s curatorial team, Canonge’s online performance is an exploration of virtual proximity and remote engagement. The program is organized by DCH Fine Arts through the Municipal Government of the city of La Paz.

May 23, 8:00 PM
SOSIEGO (Quietness)
Virtually BAAD!’s Dance Compilation Concert
Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, New York City, USA
Online performance that explores personal trauma and the willingness to overcome personal challenges when faced with unprecedented circumstances. The performance is based on the artist’s personal struggle and his fight with illness during CV19. Inspired by a recurring theme –that of drowning- the performance alludes to the quietness (sosiego) he found during his own isolation.

May 30, 7:30 PM
ARTFUL - Performance Art Community Response to CV19
An online artist talk / panel to address the concerns of the Performance Art community in New York City while living in a world of COVID-19. The program, created and moderated by artist and curator, The LP Create Change alum, Hector Canonge, will present a guest artist from each borough. ARTFUL will address the challenges, experiences, needs, and work demands that performance artists in the city faced while living in isolation during the pandemic. The conversation will be followed by an open discussion and Q&A session with participants. Guest performance artists: Brandon Perdomo (Staten Island), Claribel Jolie Picardo (Queens), Patrice Miller (Brooklyn), LuLuLoLo (Manhattan), and TBD (Bronx).
The first iteration of ARTFUL is supported by The Laundromat Project, Creative Action Fund Micro Commission.

May 8 - June 5, 2020
CHRONICLES OF CONFINEMENT
Public Presentation, June 12, 7:00 PM
A documentary project focused on Performance Artists and their experiences while living in confinement due to CV19. The documentary style interview sessions will take place from May 8th to June 5th with guest artists selected from an international open-call. The culmination of the project will be screened online on Saturday, June 13, 7 pm (NY Eastern Time) and in an upcoming program for Summer 2020. The project will be archived for future viewing and reference in an online platform.

Short Biography:

HECTOR CANONGE is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and cultural producer based in New York City. His work incorporates various forms of artistic expression: Performance Art, Dance, Multimedia Production, Installation, and Social Practice to explore and treat issues related to constructions of identity, gender roles, and the politics of migration. Challenging the white box settings of a gallery or a museum, or intervening directly in public spaces, his performances mediate movement, endurance, and ritualistic processes. Some of his actions and carefully choreographed performances involve collaborating with other artists and interacting with audiences. His performance art projects, films and media installations have been presented and exhibited in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

As cultural entrepreneur, Canonge is the founding director of the performance festivals: ITINERANT, the annual Performance Art Festival of NYC (2011-present); LATITUDES, the International Performance Art Festival of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia (2018-present); and AUSTRAL, Performance Art Festival Buenos Aires (2019-present) in Argentina. He is responsible for initiatives such as ARTerial Performance Lab (2013-present), PERFORMEANDO (2014-2017), a program that focuses on featuring Hispanic performance artists living in the United States and Europe; PERFORMAXIS, an international residency program in collaboration with galleries and art spaces in Latin America (2014-present). Under his creative vision the following performance art platforms and programs were created: TALKaCTIVE (2015-2018), LiVEART.US (2016-2019), and CONVIVIR the international residency program at MODULO 715 (2016-2018). In 2017, Canonge launched the performance art platform, NEXUS, premiered during Miami Art Week. Canonge is currently at work in the development of an online platform for the exploration and experimentation of Live Art.

October 2019 (Salisbury, Maryland) .- Hector Canonge returned to his home base in the United States after finishing the production and presentation of projects in Latin America. During the months of July and August, Canonge presented two solo exhibitions in Bolivia: FUTUROS BIFURCANTES at Museo Melchor Pinto in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, and HADO at Alliance Française in the city of Cochabamba. Upon his return to New York City this past September, Canonge launched the new platform for Live Art, IGNITION at Grace Exhibition Space. He later moved to Maryland for the implementation of the exhibition project HORIZONTES (Horizons) created in collaboration with Verónica Peña and featured at the Salisbury University Art Galleries, SUAG, where he conducted workshops and talks about his current work. In the upcoming weeks, he will continue with the presentation of new work as guest artists in this year’s Art In Odd Places and as featured artist and curator in the 2019 Latin American Art Triennial.

October 17 -18, 2019
GROOVINK at Art In Odd Places, AIOP (14th Street, Front of the Church of Lady of Guadalupe)
Site-specific participatory performance that incorporates corporal movement and sound to explore notions of aging and creativity. An allegory to the transformation of the body and the passage of time. GROOVINK treats the aging body as a canvas for vitality, inner strength, and constant adaptation.

Presentation in collaboration with With Veronica Peña, music by Lorin Roser, and guest artist Nobuho Nagasawa.

November - December 2019
2019 Latin American Art Triennial.
Taller Boricua (November 8th) - Site Specific Installation and Performance
Chasama (November 13th) - Durational Performance
La Tea Theater (December 8th) - Curatorial

October 19, November 16, and December 14, 2019
IGNITION Live Art Explorations hosted at Grace Exhibition Space
New platform created to foster the exploration, examination, experimentation, and presentation of performative narratives in contemporary art. The monthly program will feature live presentations, discussions, and workshops to encourage the development of various modalities of somatic expression. IGNITION will further contribute to a broader understanding of corporeal manifestations in Live Art and its many manifestations.

February 2019 (New York City, NY.) - After completing the organization and presentation of the second edition of LATITUDES, Hector Canonge returned to NYC this February. Under his curatorial direction and the support of the local government, museums, cultural centers, the public university, and alternative spaces, LATITUDES, the International Performance Art Festival of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, took place from January 15th to 19th, 2019. In his last press conference in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Canonge consolidated his commitment to forge a stronger presence of the Contemporary Art community in the region, and to continue with the international performance festival for 2020.

This past weekend, in Logroño, Spain, the exhibition for the XVI Edition of Arte en la Tierra opened featuring documentation of “REFLEJOS” a site-specific installation and performance created by the artist and Verónica Peña, his long time collaborator. The exhibition is on view at the Escuela Superior de Diseño de La Rioja, ESDIR, College of Design of La Rioja (February 8 - March 3) . Back in New York City, Canonge is ready to continue with his independent initiatives, and introduce his own work in upcoming exhibitions, performances, and presentation. As curator and organizer of the monthly program, LiVEART.US, he will introduce the program “Performance & Documentation” in collaboration with Emergency INDEX featuring local artists and the release of INDEX Vol 7 (February 17).

Later in the month, the artist will convene creatives and launch the Open Calls for two upcoming worldwide initiatives:
AUSTRAL - International Performance Art Festival of Buenos Aires (April 23 - 27, 2019), and

ITINERANT, Annual Performance Art Festival of NYC, (May 15 - 25, 2019).

Artist Statement (January 20th, 2019 - Translated excerpt from the newspaper Los Tiempos):

"... to be able to work in many places around the world has been an incredible experience. To be in a village in North Africa, or in a remote island in the Aegean Sea, or in a colonial town in Amazonia, have given me the opportunity to better understand my role as an artist and human being. To have opportunities to show my own projects and collaborations, and to create platforms that forge stronger networks through programs, festivals, and independent initiatives at home and abroad have contributed to my personal and professional development. I find the right balance working as an artist and in my own initiatives because they nurture one another.  To find new forms of expression and to develop new ways to establish community with other creatives from diverse cultural-ethnic-racial-social-economic-religious backgrounds provide exchange of ideas, experiences and many levels of engagement. Many future plans are coming to this region [Southern Cone], and though New York City is and will always be my hometown, y have found other places where people have made me feel welcomed and also at home. Thank you to all of you ! "

Short Biography:

HECTOR CANONGE is an interdisciplinary artist, independent curator, and cultural entrepreneur based in New York City. His work incorporates the use of new media technologies, cinematic narratives, Live Action Art, and Social Practice to explore and treat issues related to constructions of identity, gender roles, and the politics of migration. Challenging the white box settings of a gallery or a museum, or intervening directly in public spaces, his performances mediate movement, endurance, and ritualistic processes. Some of his actions and carefully choreographed performances involve collaborating with other artists and interacting with audiences. His installations, interactive platforms, performance art work, and literary readings have been exhibited and presented in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

In the Summer of 2018, Canonge undertook two major projects that took him to North Africa, Asia, and Europe: his multinational project "TEMPTATIONS" produced and presented in Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus, and Greece, and “PORTALS” & “REFLEJOS” in collaboration with Verónica Peña presented in Marseille, France, and Mallorca, Granada and La Rioja in Spain. In the Fall of 2018, the artist presented and connected with artists and creatives in Moscow, Russia, and participated in the Morni Hills Performance Art Biennale II in India where his project, “AWAKENINGS” was featured. Canonge was invited to participate in the Teacher's College Teaching Artist Certificate Program (2018-2019), and is currently preparing for future presentations in the United States, Argentina, Mexico and Germany.

As cultural entrepreneur, Canonge is the person behind the creation and implementation of the programs: ITINERANT, the Annual Performance Art Festival of NYC; ARTerial Performance Lab (APLAB), a transcontinental initiative to foster collaboration among performance artists from the Americas; PERFORMEANDO, a program that focuses on featuring Hispanic performance artists living in the United States and Europe; PERFORMAXIS, an international residency program in collaboration with galleries and art spaces in Latin America. After living most of his life in the United States, Canonge returned to South America in 2012, and lived abroad for almost 3 years. Upon his return to New York City in late 2015, he started the development and execution of new projects, exhibitions, and initiatives among them: TALKaCTIVE, LiVEART.US, and CONVIVIR the international residency program at MODULO 715. In 2017, Canonge organized the performance art platform, NEXUS, premiered during Miami Art Basel, and worked in the development of the first International Performance Art Festival of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, LATITUDES, in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.  As curator, he has organized exhibitions at Queens Museum, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Centro Cultural Santa Cruz, Space 37 Gallery, and Visual AIDS. He started the monthly artists’ program A-LAB Forum at Crossing Art Gallery (2010-2013), and created the monthly independent film series CINEMAROSA (2005-2015). Canonge’s work has been reviewed by The New York Times, ART FORUM, Art in America, New York Daily News, Manhattan Times, Hispanic Magazine; by major networks ABC, NBC, CNN, CBS, UNIVISION, etc., and online by Art Experience NYC, Hyperallergic, Turbulence, Art Card Review, and New York Foundation for the Arts’ bulletin NYFA News.

October 2018 (New York City) - Hector Canonge returned to to U.S. in early September after completing "TEMPTATIONS," a multinational project encompassing performance, workshops, conferences, and exhibitions presented in Morocco, Egypt, Cyprus, Turkey and Greece. The artist also concluded a second collaborative project with artist Veronica Peña presenting “PORTALS” in Marseille, France, and in Mallorca, Spain, as well as “CONVERGENCIAS” in Granada, and the site-specific installation and performance “REFLEJOS” for the residency program Arte en la Tierra in Santa Lucia de Ocón in La Rioja, Spain.

Upon his return, Canonge was interviewed by Jaguar Mary X for the radio program WOKE AMP at Pratt Radio WPIR (listen) , helped launched the move of Grace Exhibition Space from Brooklyn to the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and initiated the new season series for LiVEART.US with the program “Queerin’ Performance” hosted at Queens Museum. The artist is currently at work preparing for the world premiere of this performance-dance project “Tullido” to be featured in the program Take Root at Green Space in Long Island City (Friday, October 12th and Saturday, October 13th). Other upcoming projects in October include his participation in the program “The Weight of Inheritance” at Boston Center for the Arts (October 26th), and the presentation of his site-specific installation and performance “Atlas” (November 2nd) as well as the curatorial project PERFORMEANDO (November 16th-17th) at Grace Exhibition Space. In November, Canonge will participate in the Morni Hill Performance Art Biennial in India (November 19th to 24th), and in December, his new dance piece "Camarada" will be featured in the festival Queer Butoh 18 organized by the New York Butoh Institute (December 8th).

Artist Statement (October 2, 2018):

"In 2009, I began to incorporate Performance Art to my New Media and Integrated Media Arts practice. Since my first presentation at Topaz Arts in Queens, my performances have integrated elements of movement where choreographed instances are an important element of corporal resistance and aesthetic fluidity. I was not dancing, yet I was moving, and the movement that I created for my performances was noticed by critics and gallerists. Following the advice of a colleague, I was encouraged to explore Butoh Dance. My return to the dance studio, after years of battling and recovering from Rheumatic Fever, was a revelation. Butoh became my new dance practice, first in Berlin in 2013, and since 2015, in New York City where I met my mentor and teacher Vangeline. Since then I have studied with Vangeline Theater and the New York Butoh Institute’s workshops with Katsura Kan, Yumiko Yoshioka, Atsushi Takenoushi, Tetsuro Fukuhara, and Mari Osanai, among others. My upcoming projects will explore dance in various modalities of experimentation and expression as an allegory to transformation, rediscovery, and self-realization. Upcoming works will also integrate new technologies not as a way to decorate a piece, but to enhance somatic movement and sensorial adaptability."

Short Biography:
Hector Canonge is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, and cultural producer based in New York City. His work incorporates various forms of artistic expression: Performance Art, Experimental Dance, Multimedia Installation, and Social Practice to explore and treat issues related to constructions of identity, gender roles, and the politics of migration. Challenging the white box settings of a gallery or a museum, or intervening directly in public spaces, his performances mediate movement, endurance, and ritualistic processes. Some of his actions and carefully choreographed performances involve collaborating with other artists and interacting with audiences. His performances and media installations have been presented and exhibited in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia. Canonge. As cultural producer, Canonge founded and direct the annual Performance Art Festival of NYC, ITINERANT, and started the initiatives: ARTerial Performance Lab (APLAB), an initiative to foster collaboration among performance artists from the Americas, PERFORMEANDO, a program that focuses on featuring Hispanic performance artists living in the USA and Europe, NEXUS a performance platform for Miami Art Week, and PERFORMAXIS, an international residency program in collaboration with galleries and art spaces in Latin America. As curator, he has organized exhibitions at Queens Museum, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Centro Cultural Santa Cruz, Space 37 Gallery, and Visual AIDS. He started the monthly artists’ program A-LAB Forum at Crossing Art Gallery, and created the monthly independent film series CINEMAROSA. Canonge’s work has been reviewed by The New York Times, ART FORUM, Art in America, New York Daily News, Manhattan Times, Hispanic Magazine; by major networks ABC, NBC, CNN, CBS, UNIVISION, etc., and online by Art Experience NYC, Hyperallergic, Turbulence, Art Card Review, and New York Foundation for the Arts’ bulletin NYFA News. Canonge returned to the U.S. this past September after having completed the realization of his multinational project "Temptations" in Morocco, Egypt, Turkey, Cyprus, and Greece this past Summer. The artist is preparing for future presentations in NYC and India.

June 2018 (Morocco) -Interdisciplinary artist, and curator, Hector Canonge arrived in Casablanca, Morocco, this morning to begin a two month journey that will take him through various countries in North Africa and the Mediterranean region. Despite the recent fire that burned his studio-home in New York City, Canonge decided to complete his artistic commitments with cultural institutions, universities, community organizations, and art spaces that have been expecting him to feature his work in the upcoming weeks this Summer. In an interview for an upcoming French publication about his work, Canonge declared: “Theft and fire have stripped me of my material possessions, but I haven’t lost my will to continue and rebuild again. I am fortunate to have friends that give me support, and a community that believes in my work. I started from zero many times, I am not afraid of doing it again...” On that note, the artist will be delivering new works in new territories in the upcoming months.

Canonge’s project denominated “TEMPTATIONS” consists of a series of performances, talks, and workshops centered on the politics of the migrant body, the potential for human adaptability, and the ever changing nature of personal beliefs. In Morocco, the artist will work closely with inner-city youth from a grass roots organization in Casablanca, conduct workshops at a cultural center in Marrakesh, and give a conference in Tangier. Canonge will later travel to Egypt to develop and present new body of work in Cairo. Following that engagement, he will join this year’s performance art workshop and festival in Nicosia, Cyprus, and present a comprehensive program in Istanbul, Turkey. His first stop in continental Europe will be in Greece presenting new works and connecting with local artists, writers, and creatives in Athens and the neighboring islands of Talos and .

Canonge plans to return to the United States in early September to rebuild his studio-home, MODULO 715, to continue his work with programs at the Queens Museum, and to launch a new initiative involving Technology and Performance Art in the Fall.

Biography (Short):
Hector Canonge is an interdisciplinary artist, curator, cultural entrepreneur, and educator based in New York City. His work incorporates the use of new media technologies, cinematic narratives, performance art, and socially engaged projects to explore and treat issues related to constructions of identity, gender roles, and the politics of migration. Challenging the white box settings of a gallery or a museum, or intervening directly in public spaces, his performances mediate movement, endurance, and ritualistic processes. Some of his actions and carefully choreographed performances involve collaborating with other artists and interacting with audiences. His installations, interactive platforms, and performance art work have been exhibited and presented in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia. As cultural entrepreneur, Canonge is the founder of the annual Performance Art Festival of NYC, ITINERANT, and of the first International Performance Art Festivals in Bolivia - South America, LATITUDES. Canonge started the projects: ARTerial PERFORMANCE LAB (APLAB), a transcontinental initiative to foster collaboration among performance artists from the Americas, PERFORMEANDO, a program that focuses on featuring Hispanic performance artists living in the USA and Europe, and PERFORMAXIS, an international residency program in collaboration with galleries and art spaces in Latin America. He directs the monthly programs TALKaCTIVE: Performance Art Conversation Series, and LiVEART.US hosted at the Queens Museum and at other institutions in NYC. His work has been reviewed by New York Times, Art Forum, Art in America, Hispanic Magazine y Hyperallergic, where he appears as a notable figure in Contemporary Art and Performance Art. The artist is currently preparing a new body of work for future presentations in Morocco, Turkey, Greece, and other European countries.

May 9th, 2018 -New York City welcomes the arrival of ITINERANT, the annual Performance Art Festival NYC, to take place throughout the five boroughs from May 17-25. This year’s program, organized and curated independently by interdisciplinary artist, Hector Canonge, focuses on works that explore, treat, and propose new alternatives to binary constructions regarding gender, nationality, identity, religion and/or ideological structures. Departing from the current socio-politico-economic transformations around the globe, and the questioning of habitual norms about race, gender, sexuality, and origin. The festival will feature performance art works by emerging and established local, national as well as international artists from Europe, Latin America, Asia, and North America.

ITINERANT launches its 2018 edition with the exhibition “Entanglements” at EOArts (Thursday, May 17), and live performances at Last Frontier NYC (Friday, May 18). The festival runs until Friday, May 25 featuring local, national and international artists at Queens Museum (May 19), Staten Island Arts (May 20), Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, BAAD (May 22), Smack Mellon (May 23),and BMCC Theatre Program in Tribeca (May 24). In addition, the festival will hold the Symposium “Bodies that Matter” hosted at La Guardia Community College (May 21), and the public interventions at Flushing Meadows Park (May 19). The festival's closing event is scheduled for May 25 at Knockdown Center.

ITINERANT was created in 2010 by interdisciplinary artist Hector Canonge. The initiative was a small platform for Contemporary Performance Art, and had its origins in the monthly series A-Lab Forum that Canonge organized at Crossing Art Gallery in Flushing, Queens. Following the growing interest in Live Art, and the need to present performance programs in the borough, ITINERANT was launched in 2011 under the auspices of QMAD, Queens Media Arts Development. In 2012, ITINERANT was recognized by the City of New York as the first Performance Art festival taking place throughout the five boroughs that make the metropolitan area: Queens, Manhattan, Bronx, Brooklyn and Staten Island. In 2013, following the large scale venture in NYC, Canonge journeyed through Latin America creating the Spanish edition of the festival, Encuentro ITINERANTe which was presented in various cities in the Southern Hemisphere. In 2015, Canonge brought back ITINERANT to New York City. Since then the festival has introduced, and featured the work of local, national and international emerging and established artists introducing and featuring their work at local museums, art galleries, performance art spaces, and public parks.

Website: www.itinerant.website
Facebook: ITINERANT Performance Art Festival NYC
Email: itinerant.paf@gmail.com

Details:

Through February 28, 2018
LATITUDES
Video Exhibition of ​Live Action Art
Centro de la Cultura Plurinacional
Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia
As part of the first International Performance Art Festival of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, LATITUDES, guest curator, Hector Canonge organized an eclectic exhibition of video works created by artists from the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia. The exhibition complements the five day festival that took place from January 23rd to 27th in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.

February 5 - March 2, 2018
A MATTER OF WHOLENESS AND OTHER DISCOURSES
Live Performance: February 6, 7:00 PM
Hyphen-American Exhibition
Gallery 102, The George Washington University
Washington DC
Performance and Site-Responsive Installation, is a project that explores identity and rootedness as experienced by migrant peoples around the globe. Through performance art as a catalyst for the production of a site-responsive installation, the project brings to reflection notions of Being, Otherness, and Self.

​Saturday, February 17, 2018, 2:00 PM
TALKaCTIVE​: Performance Art Conversation Series
Hosted at Queens Museum
Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NYC
The monthly programs returns this Spring to continue the conversations with artists whose work are expressions of the various modalities in Performance Art. This month’s theme “Performance & Gender” will address concerns about (re)presentation and self-identity featuring guest artists who explore the position of the body in relation to the “masculine” and/or “feminine.”

Details:

On view through December 31st

DESGARRO (Tearing)

Uproot Exhibition at Smack Mellon

Gallery 92 Plymouth Street Brooklyn

Project that treats notions of psychological uprootedness, and forced physical relocation. DESGARRO (Tearing) relates to the present state of migratory reform politics in the United States. In particular, to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). As children, many "Dreamers" were brought here by their parents. They grew up not knowing any other country, but the United States as their own. Though they may feel connected to their parents’ homeland, their upbringing makes them “American.” Through this project, Canonge explores the notion of tearing one’s position in the world. The “desgarro” (the tearing apart) is a form of segregation, displacement, and control.

Saturday, December 2nd, 8:00 PM

ASSOCIATIONS

Cloying Parlor

309 Jefferson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

Canonge experiments with new forms of physical and artistic expression in collaboration with 2017 FF Award Fund, Veronica Peña, and sound artist, Jacob Cohen.  The evening is hosted by artist Diane Dwyer, creator of Cloying Parlor.

Friday, December 8th, 7:00 PM

INTERLUFTS

Satellite Art Show, Performance Is Alive: Slick and Gritty

Ocean Terrace Hotel, 7410 Ocean Terrace, Miami Beach

As guest artist in the program Slick and Gritty, curated by Yana Evans, Hector Canonge will engage in dialogue with participating artists after the screening presentation of his new Performance for Video work.

December 9th - 10th

NeXus -Transcontinental Performance Art Festival during Miami Art Week

December 9th, 8-11 PM - Edge Zones Art Gallery, 3317 NW 7th Avenue Circle, Miami.

December 10th, 2-5 PM - LUMMUS PARK (Public interventions) South Beach.

ARTerial Performance Lab (APLAB) in collaboration with PerForMIA and hosted by Edge Zones Project presents the program NeXus during Miami Art Week. NeXus, a new initiative organized and curated by Hector Canonge, will feature new works by local, national, and international artists during Miami Art Week. Hosted by Edge Zones Art Gallery, Miami's leading performance art venue, created and directed by Charo Oquet, NeXus will present new performance art works by selected artists. For its first edition, NeXus curatorial theme explores and treat notions of human (dis)connections, personal binds, social (re)attachements, misplaced identities, and focal (dis)placements. As a new initiative, NeXus will bring diverse manifestations of performance art where the body is at the center of artistic expression, corporeal examination, and challenging execution.

More information: NeXus

Coming in 2018:

PERFORMANCE ART RESEARCH CENTER, PARC.

A new initiative created by Hector Canonge to further critical thinking, research, academic development, and practical exploration of Performance Art in the 21st Century.  PARC is dynamic, multidimensional, and interdisciplinary proposition to explore diverse manifestations of the performative in Contemporary Art. PARC’s mission is to further support the advancement of Performance Art working with artists, curators, critics, writers, researchers, and supporting audiences from around the globe.
For more information and to join the network: performanceart.researchcenter@gmail.com

November  2017 (New York City, USA) - Hector Canonge continues with the presentation of new works and initiatives in New York City. This Fall, Canonge will talk about his work and introduce his multimedia performance “APOLOGIA,” as invited artist in the Integrated Media Arts IMA/MFA Program at Hunter College. He will also participate in the performance series TRANS-Ville, a Catinca Tabacaru Gallery event curated by MILK AND NIGHT, and will continue with his curatorial initiative, LiVEART.US hosted at the Queens Museum. This month’s program features the participation of international guest artists who will address the theme “Performing Liberation.”

Details:

Wednesday, November 1st, 7:30 PM

APOLOGIA

IMA FMA Black Box Theather, Hunter College

695 Park Avenue (543 HN)

APOLOGIA evokes the artist’s relations with his Hispano American roots, and revisits some events of his self-imposed exile while living in the United States. In APOLOGIA, Canonge continues his exploration of corporeal expression, body politics, and the poetics of identity. The three-part no intermissions performance integrates visuals elements, text, dance movement, and endurance in the “generative” style that characterizes Canonge’s Performance Art oeuvre.

Saturday, November 5th, 2:00 PM

MYTHOS

TRANS-Ville Performance Series

Catinca Tabacaru Gallery

250 Broome Street

MYTHOS is a performance that deals with attitudes about cultural trans/lations in relation to the creation of archetypes of Otherness.  Through a series of intimate actions, Canonge explores transgressive negotiations about Self and Identity.

November 18 - December 31, 2017

* Performance, Saturday, November 18th, 7:00 PM *

DESGARRO (TEARING)
Performance Art and Site-Responsive Installation

UPROOT Fall Exhibition
Smack Mellon Gallery
92 Plymouth Street Brooklyn, NY

DESGARRO (TEARING) treats notions of psychological uprootedness, and forced physical relocation. The project relates to the present state of migratory reform politics in the United States. In particular, to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA). As children, many "Dreamers" were brought here by their parents. They grew up not knowing any other country, but the United States as their own. Though they may feel connected to their parents’ homeland, their upbringing makes them “American.”  Through this project, Canonge explores the notion of tearing one’s position in the world.  The “desgarro” (the tearing apart) is a form of segregation, displacement, and control.

Sunday, November 19th, 2:00-5:00 PM

LiVEART.US: “Performing Liberation”

Hosted at Queens Museum

NYC Building, Flushing Meadows Park

This month’s program features the works of guest artists from Argentina, Romania / Germany, Greece, and Philippines. The new works presented are centered on the theme of liberation and performance art.

Coming Soon:

PERFORMANCE ART RESEARCH CENTER, PARC.

A new initiative created by Hector Canonge to further critical thinking, research, academic development, and practical exploration of Performance Art in the 21st Century.  PARC is dynamic, multidimensional, and interdisciplinary proposition to explore diverse manifestations of the performative in Contemporary Art. PARC’s mission is to further support the advancement of Performance Art working with artists, curators, critics, writers, researchers, and supporting audiences from around the globe.
For more information and to join the network: performanceart.researchcenter@gmail.com

Biography (short)

Hector Canonge is an interdisciplinary artist, curator and cultural entrepreneur based in New York City. His work incorporates the use of new media technologies, cinematic narratives, performance, and socially engaged art to explore and treat issues related to constructions of identity, gender roles, psychogeography, and the politics of migration.  Challenging the white box settings of a gallery or a museum, or intervening directly in public spaces, his performances mediate movement, endurance, and ritualistic processes.  Some of his actions and carefully choreographed performances involve collaborating with other artists and interacting with audiences. His installations, interactive platforms, and performance art work have been exhibited and presented in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

October  2017 (New York City, USA) - After presenting performances and conducting panel conferences in Latin America, Hector Canonge is in New York City to continue with initiatives and new projects this Fall.  This month, the artist will introduce new works and continue with his monthly initiatives. “TINKUTOH,” a performative exploration of traditional Andean dance rituals and Butoh at Movement Research at the Judson Church, and the performance “APOLOGIA” as guest artist of the Integrated Media Arts, MFA Program at Hunter College, CUNY. After the performance there will be a Q&A session for attending audiences. Continuing with his curatorial initiatives, Canonge will be at the Queens Museum for the presentation of TALKaCTIVE: Performance Art Conversation Series with the participation of local, national, and international guest artists.

Details:

Monday, October 9, 8:00 PM

TINKUTOH

Movement Research at the Judson Church, NYC

55 Washington Square S, NYC 10012

TINKUTOH is a performance inspired by Butoh dance and traditional movement-based Pre-Hispanic rituals from the Andean region of Potosí, in Bolivia, Latin America. The solo work explores notions of the colonized body, the syncretization of corporeal embodyment, and the transformation of form and figure. TINKUTOH constitutes Canonge's exploration of ancestral rituals, traditional dance practices, and the integration of various forms of corporeal identity.

Sunday, October 15, 2:00 PM

TALKaCTIVE: Performance Art Conversation Series
Hosted at Queens Museum, NYC

NYC Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park

TALKaCTIVE: Perfomance Art Conversation Series is a program that fosters dialogue and exchange among Live Action Art practitioners, encourages commentary about Performance Art, and prompts reflection about performative processes, methodologies, and styles. Every session is organized around a relevant topic in Performance Art, and the presentation of works by a group of selected artists who share their work, discuss their approach to Live Art, and engage in open conversation with critics, curators, and attending audience.

Saturday, October 21, 8:30 PM

RESTRAINED
Sanctuary: Protest Party Art Benefit

129 Russell Street, Greenpoint, Brooklyn, 11222

RESTRAINED is a healing action that relates to the present state of migrants around the world. As guest artist in the program benefitting Make The Road NY, Canonge delivers an intimate performance where endurance and poetics of resistance test the power of self preservation.

Wednesday, October 25, 7:30 PM (NEW DATE: Wednesday, November 1st, 2017)

APOLOGIA

Black Box, IMA- MFA Program, Hunter College, CUNY,

Hunter North 543, 695 Park Ave, NYC 10065

APOLOGIA evokes the artist’s relations with his Hispano American roots while revisiting traumatic events of his self-imposed exile while living in the United States.  In APOLOGIA, Canonge continues his exploration of corporeal expression, body politics, and the poetics of identity. The three part-no intermissions performance integrates visuals elements, text, dance movement, and endurance in the “generative” style that characterizes Canonge’s Performance Art oeuvre.

Coming Soon:

PERFORMANCE ART RESEARCH CENTER, PARC

Queens, NYC

A new initiative created by Hector Canonge to further critical thinking, research, academic development, and practical exploration of Performance Art in the 21st Century.  PARC is dynamic, multidimensional, and interdisciplinary proposition to explore diverse manifestations of the performative in Contemporary Art. PARC’s mission is to further support the advancement of Performance Art working with artists, curators, critics, writers, researchers, and supporting audiences from around the globe.
For more information and to join the network: performanceart.researchcenter@gmail.com

August  2017 (Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia) - Hector Canonge is currently in South America meeting for future projects in Colombia, Peru, Argentina, and for coordinating “LATITUDES,” the First International Performance Art Festival in Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, to take place in November. Following the culmination of “DERIVAS y JORNADAS,” a collaborative project with artist Verónica Peña, presented in various cities in Spain and Portugal (June 27 to July 27) the artist visited the United Kingdom to connect with programs and institutions such as LADA and DARC in London, and Performance Art Space in Folkestone, Kent.

In the upcoming weeks, Canonge will inaugurate his solo exhibition (DE)SOLACION at The French Institutle Alliance Française CBA, Bolivia, in the city of Cochabamba, and will conduct the lecture “Arte Conceptual y del Performance” at UAGRM, Universidad Autónoma René Gabriel Moreno in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. In Argentina, the artist will work with the program SOS Tierra to conduct a public intervention in the historical Villa 31 located in Retiro, Buenos Aires. After completing his work in the Southern Cone, the artist returns to New York City to continue with the implementation of new projects and initiatives starting in September.

Details:
August 17 - 31
(DE)SOLACION
Alliance Française, Cochabamba, Bolivia.
Solo exhibition incorporating photography, video and performance art to explore environmental concerns afflicting many Latin American cities.

August 21 - 25
SOS Tierra Program
Villa 31, Retiro, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Public Interventions in one of the oldest urban slums located at the center of the capital city of Buenos Aires

Monday, August 28, 7:00 PM
Lecture Conference: “Arte Conceptual y del Performance”
UAGRM, Universidad Autónoma René Gabriel Moreno, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.
Canonge will conduct a lecture in relation to his practice contextualized in the areas of Conceptual and Performance Art.

June 2017 (Tarragona, Spain) - Hector Canonge is back in Europe after the introduction of his long-term initiative “projekt RECOVERY” at the Queens Museum, and the presentation of his durational performance “OLVIDO” as guest artist in the Neo-Domesticity Performance Art Festival organized by Glasshouse Project in New York City.  From June 28 to July 27, Canonge will be working in collaboration with artist Verónica Peña in the project “DERIVAS y JORNADAS.”  The realization of the project consists of a residency program, exhibitions, performances, public interventions, talks, and workshops in various cities in Spain and Portugal.

“DERIVAS y JORNADAS” starts in Tarragona, Spain, on June 30th with the presentation of the performance “Del Caos” (of Chaos) at La Grey Gallery in Tarragona, Spain.  The artists’ itinerary consists of presentations in Zaragoza, (July 1), residency program in Santo Domingo de la Calzada, La Rioja  (July 2- 8), exhibition in Logroño, La Rioja (July 4 - 13), performances in Valencia (July 11-13), Madrid (July 14-17), Bilbao (July 18-20), and Porto and Lisbon (July 21-27).  After completing his collaboration project, Canonge will travel to England for presentations in London (July 28 - August 3).

Hector Canonge and Verónica Peña are performance artists working at the convergence of various disciplines. They met in 2014 during the Month of Performance Art in Berlin in the program PERFORMEANDO organized by Canonge. After presenting work independently in the United States, and coinciding in various programs in Europe and Latin America, they decided to collaborate creating multimedia pieces that incorporate physical theater, movement based performance, dance-theater, and mediated installations. Argentinian born, Hector Canonge is based in New York City.  His work integrates the use of new media technologies, cinematic narratives, performance art and social practice to treat issues related to the construction of identity, gender roles, and the politics of migration. Verónica Peña, born in Spain, is based in Indiana and Chicago.  Her work explores the themes of absence, separation, and the search for harmony through performance art. Her recent work consists of experimental participatory performances that create shared moments amongst strangers. Independently, both artists have exhibited and presented work in the United States, Latin America, and Europe. As collaborators, since 2016, they presented the performances: De lo Ajeno (of Others) Queens Museum, and Rabbithole, New York City; De lo Lejano (of the Distant), Panoply Performance Lab, New York City; and the Exhibition and Performance Art program, UNDER OUR SKIN: Body and Territory in Performance Art, Patti & Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Performing Arts at Purdue University, West Lafayette, Indiana. Their new work, De lo Possible (of Possibilities) will be premiered at TRISKELION ARTS Split Bill Program in March 2017.  The artists are also preparing the continuation of their HEPTALOGE performance series for future presentations in the United States and abroad.

June 2017 (New York City) - After the completion of his international initiative, the annual Performance Art Festival of NYC, ITINERANT (May 13-21), Hector Canonge traveled to Berlin, Germany, to present his solo project “DRAUMAZ” at OKK, Organ Kritischer Kunst, and his performance “ANAMESA” as guest participant in the 4th Annual Performance Art Weekend organized by Luisa Catucci Gallery, former Cell63 Gallery. His return to the United States was marked by the unprecedented theft of the artist’s equipment holding three years of work realized in the Americas and Europe.  Coping with the loss, Canonge will introduce “projekt RECOVERY” in the program TALKaCTIVE performance art conversation series on Sunday, June 11th, 2 - 5 PM at the QUEENS MUSEUM, and will present with his durational performance “OLVIDO” as guest artist in the Neo-Domesticity Performance Art Festival organized by Glasshouse Project on Thursday, June 21st, 9:00-12:00 PM. Following the presentations in NYC, the artist goes back to Europe to present projects and exhibit work in various cities in Spain and Portugal.

Sunday, June 11, 2:00-5:00 PM

projekt RECOVERY

Queens Museum

NYC Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park, Queens, NYC

The first program dedicated to the discussion and exploration of various  themes in Performance Art, TALKaCTIVE, presents “projekt RECOVERY” by HECTOR CANONGE.  The durational  performance focuses on aspects of loss, obsolescence,  detachment, ephemerality, and the transitory nature of Live Art. Q&A session after performance.

Artist Statement: projekt RECOVERY is an attempt to mend my persona after being submitted to a violent act where my psychological and physical well being were suddenly disrupted. The project is not only a performance but an opportunity for me to (re)formulate my art practice, understand better my own objectives for the years to come, and reflect on the nature of my own material and moral values. To a larger degree, projekt RECOVERY is also an attempt to rescue documentation of 3 years of work (2014-2016) in three different continents.  Work that vanished in a moment of joy and trustfulness.  Joy as we were celebrating the presentation of my last work, and trust as I believed in the safety of a space, and the good will of people.  projekt RECOVERY is a plea, a request, an act of solidarity, and a call for actions from friends, colleagues, acquaintances, the public in general who took pictures and/or video documentation of my performances, initiatives, and presentations.

*** Please send any visual documentation (photos and/or videos) through Wetransfer, Dropbox or Email using the email: canonge.projekt.recovery@gmail.com  All contributors and supporters will be credited accordingly.

More information: www.hectorcanonge.net/project-recovery

Wednesday, June 21st, 9:00 PM - 12:00 AM

OLVIDO

Neo-Domesticity Performance Art Festival, Glasshouse Project

246 Union Avenue, Brooklyn, NYC

Durational performance where the artist attempts to organize “proof” of his economic validification and verification of his presence in the United States since his return to New York City in late 2015. After 3 years of living abroad (2012-2015) Canonge returned “home” and had to confront with the bureaucratic challenges of housing, work, and living as an artist in New York City. In “OLVIDO” the artist tries to solve the economic puzzle of domesticity in a society that is more technologically connected yet separated and individualized.

April 2017 (Fort de France, Martinique) - Hector Canonge is currently in Martinique as guest artist in the  Festival International d’Art Performance Art, FIAP 2017. For the first edition of the festival, Canonge will present two new works, participate in a public intervention in the south of the island, and engage in conversation with French dance-art critic, Gérard Mayen. The program, organized and curated by Annabel Guérédrat and Henri Tauliaut will take place at various cultural venues in Fort de France. Upon this return to New York City, Canonge will be working on the curatorial selection process of ITINERANT, the annual Contemporary Performance Art Festival NYC to take place in the 5 boroughs in New York City (May 13-21).

April 17 - 23
Festival International d’Art Performance Art, FIAP 2017
Thursday, April 19, 3:00 PM: INCONNU (Desconocido) will premiere at the historical Bibliothèque Schoelcher on Thursday, April 19.  The work is based on Frantz Fanon "Peau noire, masques blancs" (Black Skins, White Masks), and Albert Camus "L'Étranger" (The Strange).

Friday, April 20, 3:00 PM: round table discussion with French critic Gérard Mayen, academics and guest curators from national and international institutions.

Saturday, April 21, 9:00 PM: TROPICALISMUS,  inspired by his first visit to the region, Canonge explores the notions of the exotic and the appropriations of corporal dystopias. will take place on Saturday, April 22 at the Hôtel l'Impératrice after the round table discussion with curators and art critics on Friday, April 21.

March 2017                                                                                                                                     >> enter site

March 2017 (New York City) - After successful presentations during New York City Art Week, Hector Canonge will premier “DE LO POSIBLE (Of Possibilities)” a new collaboration piece with Veronica Peña at Triskelion Arts (March 16 and 19). Canonge will perform his “Angelic Conversations” in the exhibition Phos Hilaron: From the Masses Rise the Saints at Chinatown Soup Gallery (March 22) with guest collaborator, Arantxa Araujo, and participate in Susana Cook’s new play at La Mama (March 24 - April 2).

The artist will also present his new multimedia performance “Goodbye Dreams” in the INVERSE Performance Art Festival in Arkansas (March 30 - April 2).

Canonge's initiative TALKaCTIVE: Performance Art Conversation Series will be hosted at the Queens Museum (March 19). In the upcoming weeks he will start the curatorial selection process of ITINERANT, the annual Contemporary Performance Art Festival to take place in the 5 boroughs in New York City (May 13 - 21).

February 2017 (New York City) - Hector Canonge returned to the U.S. after presenting new projects and collaborations in Argentina, Brazil, and Bolivia.  This month the artist will be presenting in Newark, New Jersey, his Franklin Furnace Award Fund Interdisciplinary Performance Art project LABoRAL, and in New York City his independent Performance Art initiative, LiVEART.US. The artist will also be appearing in a number of selected sites around the city with his public intervention and socially engaged concept project AMERICANISMUS.

Organized by the Paul Robeson Galleries at Rutgers University, LABoRAL will be premiered in New Jersey at Express Newark on Tuesday, February 21 at 7 PM.  The five-hour durational performance project reflects on the present position of labor relations, and migration politics in the United States. LABoRAL had its premiere presentation in NYC in December 2016 at the Glasshouse Project in Brooklyn. For its presentation at Express Newark, the artist will perform a shorter version of the multidisciplinary work. Hosted at the QUEENS MUSEUM, Canonge’s independent initiative, LiVEART.US will present “Performance and Subversion” on Sunday, February 26, 2 - 5 PM. Performance artists and activists featured in the event will present new works focusing on the current political climate in the United States.

BEST WISHES FOR THE NEW YEAR !

December 2016                                                                                                                                    >> enter site

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December 2016 (New York City) - After exhibiting a series of works for collectors during Miami Art Week early this month, Hector Canonge, will present new projects in Chicago and New York City. As guest artist, Canonge will premiere (December 10th) the documentation of his Public Performance and Intervention SHEDDING at the Sullivan Galleries of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, SAIC, in the program Collective Becoming: Expressions of Love, Freedom, and Resistance, curated by Veronica Peña.

The artist's new exhibition project, TEMPORAL, presented at the International Biennial for Contemporary Art, SIART 2016, will be featured in the program Aquaisms  (December 16) at Long Island Academy of Music.  On December 20th, the artist will present his Franklin Furnace Award project, LABoRAL. The durational work will be introduced at Glasshouse Project in Brooklyn, New York City.  Continuing with the implementation of his independent programs, Canonge will feature local and international artists in his programs TALKaCTIVE: performance art conversation series at Queens Museum (December 17th) and CENTIPEDE: Performance Art Series at JACK, Brooklyn (December 18th).

November 2016 (Brooklyn, New York City) Hector Canonge will premier works in New York City and at the Contemporary Art Biennial SIART in Bolivia, South America. The artist's dancel performance, "MELANKHOLIA," will be presented in the program COLLABFEST 2016 at Triskelion Arts in New York City Friday, November 4th. The new work, with musical composition by Sound Artist, Gregory Paul, is a multidisciplinary performance informed by Butoh dance and electronic acoustics. MELANKHOLIA is a performance that treats experiences of alienation, estrangement, and adaptation. Loosely based on a short story written by Canonge about his father's self imposed exile in Latin America, the piece is an allegory of self preservation, courage, and tenacity.

The artist's immersive performative installation "TEMPORAL" is currently on view in the Bienal Internacional de Arte, SIART, in La Paz Bolivia. TEMPORAL gathers Live Action recorded in the northern glacial in Iceland and the largest river sand dunes in the Bolivian Amazonian region. The installation also includes interactive platforms that allows users to experience geographical shifts and temporal GPS locations.

Continuing with his independent initiatives in NYC, Canonge will present PERFORMANX at the Bronx Museum of the Arts (Nov. 16, 7-10 PM) featuring new and collaborative works with local an international artists, and CENTIPEDE the new Performance Art Series at JACK in Brooklyn on Sunday, Nov. 13, 8:00 PM.

October 2016 (Brooklyn, New York City) Hector Canonge participates as guest artist of Spread Art in Bushwick Open Studios this month. The artist will introduce his new work "Semillas Urbanas" (Urban Seeds) as a way to explore the growing and ever evolving concerns about men's relation with nature. During the 45 min. performance, the artist unveils various states of possible connections using materials such as charcoal, dried pumpkins, and yarn to evoke moments of dis/comfort.

From October 12th to 13th, the artist's will be presenting work produced in collaboration with Veronica Peña. The work, denominated "UNDER OUR SKIN: Body and Territory in Performance Art" is an exhibition composed of video projections with a selection of the ephemera from their in-situ performance De Lo Ajeno ( Of others). The event took place in the Patti and Rusty Rueff Galleries, Patti & Rusty Rueff School of Visual and Performing Arts at Purdue University.

Septembert 2016 (Zurich, Switzerland) - Hector Canonge will present new work as invited artist for MANIFESTA 11, The European Biennial for Contemporary Art, in Zurich Switzerland. After completing the production, and exhibition of solo shows, and the presentation of new works in Performance Art in various countries in South America (Mexico as invited artist by the UNAM, Chile as director of the project APLAB, Argentina with “Impulsos Performagráphikos,” and Bolivia as guest artist for Centro de la Cultural Plurinacional) the artist was selected to participate in MANIFESTA 11 with his project "B-EAT-ING-OTHER-NESS.”

In the spirit of 100 years of Cabaret Voltaire and the Dadaist movement, Canonge’s new work is an exploration of and experimentation with the body as instrument for social and ethnic constructions. The project includes the use of popular elements and a number of selected participants from the field of health, science, and cultural studies.

Continuing with his work, Canonge returns to New York City for the season premiere of his independent initiative LiVEART.US presenting the program “Transformations” on September 17th at the Queens Museum, and for the presentation of his solo performance “TRAUM(A)” to be featured on September 25th as the inaugural event for the new performance series CENTIPEDE at JACK in Brooklyn. “TRAUM(A)” is the product of his reflections and explorations of his return and encounter with almost forgotten episodes of his childhood in South America: the resonance of the last dictatorial regimes in the region, the imposed exile, and the inadequacies of origin explored in this five part multidisciplinary performance.

August 2016 (Buenos Aires, Argentina) - Hector Canonge completed the production and presentation of “Impulsos Performagráphikos” through the collective ARTerial PERFORMANCE LAB, APLAB, his independent transcontinental initiative for performance artists in the Americas. The project took place in various Latin American cities among them Santiago and Valparaiso in Chile, and Mendoza, Cordoba and Buenos Aires in Argentina.

APLAB: Impulsos Performagráphikos included the participation of more than 15 artists from Latin America, Europe and the United States with the collaboration of local institutions, artists collectives, and the support of state and city universities. Before embarking in the itinerant program, Canonge also presented the APLAB program "Temporal Incidence / Continuous Dissidence” (Incidencias Temporales / Disidencias Continuas)” with performances, workshops, and talks in the X Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics in Santiago, Chile.

Continuing with his work, Canonge will visit Bolivia for the inauguration is his photographic exhibition “TROLOPOGIAS” at Arte 21 SCZ (August 11 - 23). The artist will also be presenting his performance project “ALTERIDADES” at Centro de la Cultural Plurinacional in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (August 12), and the ongoing performance “TRAUM(A)” at the art center Proyecto Martadero (August 16 - 20). The artist will return to the United States to continue work at his MODULO 715 in New York City in late August.

July 2016 (Santiago, Chile) - Hector Canonge recently completed the production of new body of work as visiting guest artist of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, UNAM, (National Autonomous University of Mexico) exhibiting, presenting performances, conducting workshops and talks at various galleries, institutions, and cultural spaces among them Galerías de la Antigua Academia de San Carlos, ArtSpace Mexico, Espacio 553, and Live Art Mexico.  While in residency at Casa Viva, the artist also participated in public interventions for the program Flexus at Iglesia de la Santísima, and a commissioned performance at Exconvento del Bosque de los Leones organized by Biosfera Experimental. Continuing his work in Latin America, Canonge will present work in the following countries:

Chile: Santiago and Valparaiso; Argentina: Mendoza, Cordoba and Buenos Aires; and Bolivia: Santa Cruz de la Sierra and Cochabamba.  In Santiago, he will introduce his independent transcontinental initiative ARTerial PERFORMANCE LAB, APLAB, in a program for the X Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics (July 17 - 23). In Valparaiso, Canonge will be joined by a group of artists from the collective El CUBO to initiate a series of presentations, workshops, and talks under the program “IMPULSOS PERFORMAGRAPHIKOS” (July 24 - 27).

Argentina (July 28 - August 10): The artist will visit the cities of Mendoza and Cordoba where he will work with local artists who will accompany him in the trajectory ending in Buenos Aires with presentations in the capital city at Puesto 68 Mercado de San Juan y en San Fernando at Zona Imaginaria.

Bolivia, Canonge will open his photographic exhibition “TROLOPOGIAS” at Arte 21 SCZ (August 11 - 23) and will present a new performance project “ALTERIDADES” at Centro de la Cultural Plurinacional in the city of Santa Cruz de la Sierra (August 12).  In Cochabamba, the artist continues with the presentation of his ongoing series “TRAUM(A)” at the cultural center Proyecto Martadero (August 16 - 20). The artist will return to the United States to continue work at his MODULO 715 in late August.

June 2016 (New York City, USA) - Hector Canonge continues with the presentation of new works in the United States before leaving for Mexico and South America for the summer months. In Pittsburgh (June 10 - 11) the artist participates in Bunker Projects’ third annual Performance Art Festival, PAF’16 with the new work ANIMA MULLADA (Wet Soul). In New York City, Canonge presents OIKOS performance of his social engagement project A Home of Our Own as part of his artistic residency at Residency Unlimited, RU (June 14).

Coinciding with Pride Month in NYC, he introduces a selection of works by artists in the special program for LiVEART.US Queerin’ Bodies hosted at the QUEENS MUSEUM, and in the spirit of diversity and public actions, new works by artists from the series PERFORMEANDO at Flushing Meadows Corona Park (June 18).

Canonge’s site-responsive installation and performance documentation of his project, IN PROFUNDUS, commissioned by NO LONGER EMPTY for the Jameco Exchange Exhibition program curated by Rachele Gugerberger is on view until July 17, 2016 in Jamaica, Queens, NYC.

Following the completion of his commitments in the US, and as visiting artist of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, UNAM, (National Autonomous University of Mexico) Canonge travels to Mexico to present new body of work, conduct workshops, and lead conversation panels with local institutions, artists and students at various museums, galleries, and art spaces (June 21 - July 10).  Later in the month, Canonge continues to South America where he is organizing the ARTerial PERFORMANCE LAB (APLAB) program for the X Encuentro of the Hemispheric Institute of Performance and Politics in Santiago, Chile (July 17 - 23).

Following the X Encuentro, Canonge will be on tour with Latin American artists in the project IMPULSOS PERFORMAGRAPHIKOS to be hosted and presented by local organizations of various cities: Valparaiso, Chile, and Mendoza, Cordoba, Buenos Aires, Argentina (July 24 - August 15).

May 2016                                                                                                                                             >> enter site

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HECTOR CANONGE

May 2016 (New York City, USA) - Hector Canonge is backNew York City to continue with presentations, programs and exhibitions at various galleries and cultural art institutions. Canonge spent sometime in Chicago as resident artist at Defibrillator Gallery where he presented new work, gave an artist talk and conducted workshops. Coinciding with Frieze New York and NADA Art Fairs, Canonge will be presenting work in the upcoming weeks: "ASSERTIONS" in Performance Anxietyat Gallery Sensei (May 5), the collaboration pieces with artist Veronica Peña, "DE LO AJENO (Of Others)" in EO Arts Performance Art Series at Rabbithole (May 13), and "DE LO LEJANO (Of The Distant)" at Panoply Performance Laboratory (May 20), "(RE)VISITING THE MASCULINE" (May 14), "ABRASIONS OF THE SOUL" in Trauma Saloon at PPL (May 26), and special presentation of his new installation and live performance "DI PROFUNDIS" as invited artist in the Jameco Exchange Exhibition program organized by the organiztion No Longer Empty (May 21 - July 21).

The artist continues with the presentation of the independent initiatives: TALKaCTIVE: performance art conversation series hosted at Queens Museum (May 21) featuring artists from the program THREAD organized by Thomas Albrecht, and LiVEART.US (May 28) featuring live public performance interventions (May 28) in the program "Performance & Activism."

Details:
May 5, 2016, 8:00 PM

ASSERTIONS

Performance Anxiety

Gallery Sensei

208 Bowery Street, New York, NY

May 13, 2016, 7:00 PM

DE LO AJENO (Of Others)

Collaboration with Veronica Peña

EO Arts Performance Art Series

Rabbithole

33 Washington Street, Brooklyn, NY

May 14, 2016, 8:00 PM

(RE)VISITING THE MASCULINE

Ming's Space

1717 Broadway, Brooklyn, NY

May 20, 2016, 7:00 PM

DE LO LEJANO (Of The Distant)

Collaboration with Veronica Peña

Performancy Forum

Panoply Performance Lab

104 Meserole Street, Brooklyn, NY

May 21, 2016, 12:00 PM

DI PROFUNDIS

Jamaco Exchange Exhibition

No Longer Empty

165 Street and Jamaica Avenue, Jamaica, NY

May 26, 2016, 7:00 PM

ABRASIONS OF THE SOUL

Trauma Saloon

Panoply Performance Lab

104 Meserole Street, Brooklyn, NY

April 2016                                                                                                                                             >> enter site

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HECTOR CANONGE

Hector Canonge, Studio Registry, NYC, NY, 2015

April 2016 (New York City, USA) - After completing presentations and portfolio reviews during last month’s NYC Art Fairs, HECTOR CANONGE will be presenting new works at various venues. In New York City, Canonge will feature works at : cloyingparlor (April 8), Panoply Performance Laboratory (April 14), PEN Literary Mews Festival (April 29), and in Chicago at Defibrillator where he will be in residence (April 20 - 29) .  Canonge also continues organizing the independent Performance Art initiative LiVEART.US hosted at the Queens Museum (April 16). The artist is at work with his new Socially Engaged Art project “A Home of Our Own” sponsored as resident artist at Residency Unlimited in Brooklyn, NYC.Residency Unlimited in Brooklyn, NYC.

About the works:

TAUTOLOGY of DREAMS and NIGHTMARES
April 8, 2016, 8:00 PM

cloying PARLOR

309 Jefferson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY

New performance art work explores the contradictions embedded in the subconscious process of creation. Between awareness and unfamiliarity resides the experience of Self and Other of the Here and There of Confinement and Freedom. Created specifically for cloying PARLOR, Canonge's new work is a step into the artist's most inner fears and joys.

TALE del SUR

April 14, 8:00 PM

Panoply Performance Laboratory: Performancy Forum

104 Meserole Street in Brooklyn, NY.

Account narrative about Canonge’s emblematic work “SUR.”  The artist reconstruct the experience through a live performative lecture where Self and Identity are questioned and reconstructed in a sequence of episodes that match the original score of the work.

LiVEART.US

April 16, 4:30 PM

Hosted at Queens Museum, Unisphere Gallery

NYC Building, Flushing Meadows Corona Park

The new performance art program initiated by Canonge continues this month with guest artist from various countries.  The afternoon presentations will feature works under the theme “Corporeal Boundaries.” Canonge will present a special collaboration piece with Japanese sound artist Nao Nishihara.

CHICANERIAS

April 20 - 27, Resident Artist

April 23, 7:00 PM, Performance & Installation: “Makhanas” 

April 25 - 27, Conversations & Workshops

DEFIBRILLATOR

1463 W Chicago Avenue, Chicago

As part of Canonge’s residency program at Chicago’s well known performance space, Defibrillator, the artist will conduct workshops, conversations, and present the durational performance “Makhanas" in the program LIGHT | SOUND | BODY | MACHINE organized by Sara Zalek.  “Makhanas,” from the Greek word for machines, has a universal sound in other languages particularly in Spanish spoken in South America. The word “Macanas” (phonetically the same as makhanas) signifies or alludes to weapons, phalluses, whips, and to things that might be considered nuisance, rubbish, nonsense, a bad job or a boring conversation.  The play of words and the durational actions executed over a period of time at the gallery evoke multiple symbolic transcultural meanings.

POLARITIES

April 29,

PEN Literary Mews Festival

New York University, NYC, NY

A multidisciplinary performance that explores human displacement and the traumas inherent in people’s migratory experiences. Hector Canonge’s new work evokes personal accounts and stories related to the assimilation, (de)culturization, and (up​)rootedness faced by migrants over the world.  Through performative narratives, body movement, and texts written by the artist, POLARITIES formulates a rich sensorial experience prompting audiences to reflect on the physical and psychological conditions of transcontinental migrations across borders.

Brief Biography:

Hector Canonge is an interdisciplinary artist, curator and cultural entrepreneur based in New York City. His work incorporates the use of new media technologies, cinematic narratives, Live Action Art, and Social Practice to explore and treat issues related to constructions of identity, gender roles, psychogeography, and the politics of migration.  Challenging the white box settings of a gallery or a museum, or intervening directly in public spaces, his performances mediate movement, endurance, and ritualistic processes.  Some of his actions and carefully choreographed performances involve collaborating with other artists and interacting with audiences. His work has been exhibited and presented in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

As cultural entrepreneur, Canonge created, and organizes independently the annual Performance Art Festival NYC, ITINERANT. He also started projects such as ARTerial Performance Lab (APLAB), an initiative to foster collaboration among performance artists from the Americas, PERFORMEANDO, a program that focuses on featuring Hispanic performance artists living in the USA and Europe, NEXUSURNEXUS a virtual platform for Live Action Art, and PERFORMAXIS, an international residency program in collaboration with galleries and art spaces in Latin America. Canonge is the co-founder of QMAD, Queens Media Arts Development, a non-profit arts organization in Queens, NYC. As curator, he has organized exhibitions at Centro Cultural Santa Cruz, Queens Museum, Space 37 Gallery, and Visual AIDS.  He started the monthly artists’ program A-LAB Forum at Crossing Art Gallery, and created the monthly independent film series CINEMAROSA.  Canonge’s work has been reviewed by The New York Times, ART FORUM, Art in America, New York Daily News, Manhattan Times, Hispanic Magazine; by major networks ABC, NBC, CNN, CBS, UNIVISION, etc., and online by Art Experience NYC, Hyperallergic, Turbulence, Art Card Review, and New York Foundation for the Arts’ bulletin NYFA News.

Canonge teaches Media Arts and Technology at City University of New York, and directs his projects, programs and initiatives among them: CONVIVIR, the international residency program at MODULO 715, his new space in Jackson Heights, Queens; TALKaCTIVE: Performance Arte Conversation Series, the monthly program hosted at the Queens Museum; PERFORMEANDO, the performance art program that focuses on featuring works by latino/a artists in the USA, and the new initiative LiVEART.US hosted at the Queens Museum and other local public institutions.

February 2016                                                                                                                                             >> enter site

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HECTOR CANONGE

February  2016 (New York City-USA) - HECTOR CANONGE closes his two solo exhibitions in Bolivia: “Tropologías” at Casa de la Cultura, La Paz (February 20) and “Arenals” at Arte21 Gallery, Santa Cruz de la Sierra  (February 15) with artist talks delivered from his studio in New York City.

In the United States: the artist willl launch the new program LiVEART.US at Queens Museum (Feb. 20), and begin working on his Social Practice & Performance Art based project A HOME OF OUR OWN in the Bronx as a RU Residency Unlimited & Casita Maria resident artist. In England: Canonge will be participating as a guest speaker in the Alternative Document Symposium at Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, and will show his video installation in the exhibition for the symposium at Project Space Plus at University of Lincoln.

About the works:

TROPOLOGÍAS

Closing February 22,  Museo Casa de la Cultura, La Paz, Bolivia.

Solo exhibition based on Canonge's trip to his father's homeland in Catalonia where he photographed small found objects, and created narratives using Concrete Poetry. The exhibit also includes video installations that refers to the various territories explored in the region.

ARENALS

Closing February 15, Arte21 Galería, Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia.

Commissioned project by the FCBCB explores the dunes of the Pirai River, one of the largest in the Amazonian region in Bolivia.  The exhibition incorporates footage of Canonge's incursion in the river, photography, in-situ installations, and video documentation.

A HOME OF OUR OWN
February 3 - April 30, 2016
RU Residency Unlimited & Casita Maria Residency Program, USA.
A multidisciplinary arts project where Social Practice and Performance Art converge to create individual introspection, stronger family relations, and understanding of community building.  Canonge will work with participants from Casita Maria's after school program and the community of Hunts Point in the Bronx.  The project is sponsored by RU Residency and Casita Marita. The 3-month residency is made possible with support from the Dedalus Foundation and funding from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).
More information.

LiVEART.US
February - June, 2016
Premiere: Saturday, February 20, 3 PM, Queens Museum, NYC, USA.
A new initiative focusing on Live Art follows and complements the monthly series TALKaCTIVE: performance art conversations initiated by the artist last September. The program's main objective is to further support the creation and presentation of new works in Performance Art and its various manifestations in an environment suitable for reflection and dialogue. Participating artists are selected on an ongoing basis. More information.

“WORDS (and) REPETITION (as) DOCUMENTATION (in) PERFORMANCE ART”
Alternative Document Symposium

February 12 - 15, 2016
Lincoln Performing Arts Centre, University of Lincoln, England.
Performative lecture exploring two non-visual practices for documentation:The written word, its use, and appropriation to transcribe actions, and the execution of a performance art piece. And The Repetition of a number of works despite the traditional ‘one time,’ ephemeral consideration that performances are said to have. The lecture/performance contains various examples of the artist’s work supported by written documentation that will be narrated to audiences. In addition, there will be a screening of the performance SUR presented (repeatedly) in various cities in the USA, Europe and Latin America.

αφορά (AFORÁ)
February 13 - March 30, 2016
Project Space Plus, University of Lincoln, England.
Video installation that explores the notion of the memento, the memory, the souvenir (recuerdo in Spanish) of the moment(s) created by a performance. The instances created by a performance leave sensory imprints not just for the audience, but also for the artist. On the one hand, the ephemeral actions provoke a reaction (instinctual or reasoned) on part of the observers, and instances of reflection on the part of the creator. The memento that witnesses take from a performance degrades over time due to the very nature of human experience. However, and despite the point of view of the mechanical device recording the action(s), what the performance artist has as testament of the work is not an elusive memory, but an actual image that can be reproduced physically and accessed at any given moment.

Fall 2015                                                                                                                                                      >> enter site

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“Transplant”, presented by epitelesis - P. A. F. , Athens, Greece. Photo: Andreas Pashias.  Copyright © Canonge, 2015

September 2015 (NYC - USA) - After working for several months in Europe and Latin America, HECTOR CANONGE, returned to New York City in early September to continue with his artistic projects and launch new initiatives this Fall. Starting in September, the artist will be working on the implementation of “TALKaCTIVE,” a monthly conversation series about performance hosted at the Queens Museum, and as part of QMAD, Queens Media Arts Development, new programing ventures. Beginning in October, Canonge will host “CONVIVIR,” an international arts residency program in his new space in Jackson Heights, Queens. For November, he brings back to the city “ITINERANT,” the annual festival for Live Action Art to take place in the five boroughs among them the Bronx Museum of the Arts (Bronx), Queens Museum (Queens), Momenta Art (Brooklyn), Glasshouse Project (Brooklyn), and 67 Space in Manhattan.

For Fall 2015 the artist is also scheduled to travel to Colombia to participate in the International Festival of Cultures representing the United States (November 3 – 10), to Peru for the opening of his solo exhibition “SOMATOPIAS” (December 3 – 30), and to Argentina (December 20 – 23) to meet with Latin American artists, members of his collective ARTerial Performance Lab, in preparation for the Hemispheric Encuentro in 2016.

Top left to right: Selected works in Germany, Spain, and Greece. Copyright © Canonge, 2015.

In Europe, the artist organized and presented “PERFORMEANDO” a program that centers on featuring Hispanic, Latin, Latina/o performance artist living outside of their homeland (Berlin, May 2015), he was a guest artist for a special presentation of the international festival Intramurs (Valencia, June 2015), and was invited by the program epitelesis - P. A. F. to introduce “TRANSPLANT,” performed at the Arts Academy and at ASFF BB (Athens, June 2015).  Canonge later moved to Italy where he presented the series “DISENTANGLEMENTS” (Naples) and in collaboration with a street musician found in Piazza del Popolo he created the public intervention “SEMINAL” (Rome).  To conclude his journey, the artist intervened Piazza San Marco with his piece “LUXSAVAGE” (Venice) and was invited for a special presentation program at the American Pavillion during the Venice Biennale.

In South America, Canonge was featured in various programs: In Perú, as guest artist in the Encuentro: espacio abierto a libre performance presenting his work in various cultural centers and independent galleries (Lima, July 2015), as featured artist for Construye Collective to present “DESANUDANDO,” and to give lectures and workshops at Alliance Française (Arequipa, July 2015). In Argentina, Canonge  introduced his work at the Escuela de Bellas Artes de Quilmes (Buenos Aires, August 2015). In Bolivia, he inaugurated his solo exhibition “CORPOREALIDAD,” at La Gallerie, a project sponsored by MACSCZ, CIT Foundation, and Alianza Francesa LP (La Paz, August 2015). Before returning to the United States, the artist organized “AKTIVAGANTE” a regional festival of Live Action Art working with local artists at various cultural art centers sponsored by FSI Patino, CC Oriental, CCF Rodriguez, and Ministerio de Culturas Bolivia (Santa Cruz de la Sierra, August 2015).

Top left to right: Selected works in Italy, Argentina, Peru, and Bolivia. Copyright © Canonge, 2015.

Upcoming presentations and programs:

- September 18: PURGA, durational performance, The Sphynx Returns, Grace Exhibition Space,NYC.

- September 27: TALKaCTIVE, perfomance art conversation series, Queens Museum.

- October 1: CONVIVIR, launching of international residency program, Queens, NYC.

- October 3: TRIANGULATIONS, public intervention at Manuel de Dios Unanue Plaza, JH, Queens.

- October 5 - 10: REVERSIBLE, encuentro de arte acción, Bogota, Colombia.

- October 13: LABOR, discussion group leader, NYC Creative Salon.

- October 17: TALKaCTIVE, perfomance art conversation series, Queens Museum.

- October 27 - 31: ARTICULAT, Festival de Performance, Valencia, Spain.

- November 12 - 21: ITINERANT Performance Art Festival NYC, various locations, NYC.

- December 3 - 30: SOMATOPIAS, Solo Exhibition, Arequipa, Peru.

- December 12: TALKaCTIVE, performance art conversation series, Queens Museum.

- December 12: UNWINDING, Diverse Universe Performance Festival, Gowanus Ballroom.

Brief Biography:

Hector Canonge is an interdisciplinary artist, curator and cultural entrepreneur based in New York City. His work incorporates the use of new media technologies, cinematic narratives, Live Action Art, and Social Practice to explore and treat issues related to constructions of identity, gender roles, psychogeography, and the politics of migration. Challenging the white box settings of a gallery or a museum, or intervening directly in public spaces, his performances mediate movement, endurance, and ritualistic processes. Some of his actions and carefully choreographed performances involve collaborating with other artists and interacting with audiences. His work has been exhibited and presented in the United States, Latin America, Europe and Asia.

As cultural entrepreneur, Canonge started projects such as ARTerial Performance Lab (APLAB), an initiative to foster collaboration among performance artists from the Americas, PERFORMEANDO, a program that focuses on featuring Hispanic performance artists living in the USA and Europe, NEXUSURNEXUS a virtual platform for Live Action Art, and PERFORMAXIS, an international residency program in collaboration with galleries and art spaces in Latin America. He created, and organizes independently the annual Performance Art Festival NYC, ITINERANT.

Canonge is the co-founder of QMAD, Queens Media Arts Development, a non-profit arts organization in Queens, NYC. As curator, he has organized exhibitions at Centro Cultural Santa Cruz, Queens Museum, Space 37 Gallery, and Visual AIDS. He started the monthly artists’ program A-LAB Forum at Crossing Art Gallery, and created the monthly independent film series CINEMAROSA. Canonge’s work has been reviewed by The New York Times, ART FORUM, Art in America, New York Daily News, Manhattan Times, Hispanic Magazine; by major networks ABC, NBC, CNN, CBS, UNIVISION, etc., and online by Art Experience NYC, Hyperallergic, Turbulence, Art Card Review, and New York Foundation for the Arts’ bulletin NYFA News.

Contact:  

email: hector@hectorcanonge.net

cellphone:: +1.917.446.4472

Artistic CV (Download PDF) | Dosier (Download PDF)

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